Woman hospitalized from Grand Lake-area moose attack

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GRAND LAKE — A Grand Lake woman is recovering in a Denver hospital from a bull-moose attack near Grand Lake.

Diana Duelly, 30, was at Pine Beach on the shore of Shadow Mountain Reservoir with her dog when a bull moose came from the trees and bushes and charged her, rendering her temporarily unconscious, according to her employer Bob King of Pancho and Lefty’s restaurant in Grand Lake.

The incident occurred around 2 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 5, just minutes after Duelly had parked her car and got out to walk, King said.

According to King, who heard the story directly from Duelly during a recent hospital visit, tourists were in the vicinity and witnessed the attack.

Duelly lost consciousness from the time of the attack until she was in the care of medics at the scene. An emergency helicopter was called to the former Grand Lake Elementary School building to transport Duelly to a Denver-area hospital, according to Grand County Emergency spokesperson Nowell Curran.

Duelly suffered skull injuries and is expected to have surgery on one eye in the coming days, King said.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife officials were unable to identify which moose among others in the area had attacked the woman, so the animal remains in the wild, according to regional Parks and Wildlife spokesperson Mike Porras.

The dog was off-leash at the time, Porras said. Moose are known to be spooked by dogs because of their association with wolves, the natural predator to moose.

This was the second serious Grand Lake moose attack of the season in the Grand Lake area. Another took place in the spring, when a woman, who was with her dog on a retractable leash, was hospitalized after being charged by a moose in the driveway of a friend’s home.

Already King and others are planning a fundraiser for Duelly at Pancho & Lefty’s sometime in October to help the bartender with her medical expenses.